There were two different reports that have been published by two different NGO’s Both paint a picture we at Hope For Sderot have known for quite some time. The first NGO reported that Kids go to school and in some cases to sleep at night hungry. The second one reported that people do not have enough blankets to keep warm with in the winter.
The organization Latet, looks back at 2012 and said it was as “a bad year” for Israel.
According to their report data, half of the children of needy families, who are still minors, are forced to work today, a sharp increase compared to 2011 when this number only came up to 19 percent. In general, this means that one out of five Israeli children have had to drop out of school for this purpose.
Ten percent of the children of these needy families also are on the streets
begged for money; that’s up seven percent from last year. Twenty seven percent of children in Israel experience full days without food also up by seven percent from last year.
Our record show that Hope For Sderot went into 2012 with 388 families on our list of those we help and today we are at 441 or an increase by 8.3 percent and we have stopped taking on any new families because we are limited to the help we can give because of budget constraints, but we hope and pray that will change and we can continue to add people to our list of families we help .
The Economic hardship effect the total family structure. Too many time it comes down to do you buy food or school book or food or personal hygiene items? Some children go through the school year sharing a text book of a friend. This means homework cannot be done because you don’t have a text book or the work book of your own to use home.
In the Latet, report they said 69 percent of the children of needy families did not participate in social school activities in 2012. That means no field trips or other outing with your classmates because you don’t have the money. We have helped kids in this position in the past. It is hard to have a pizza day in your class but you don’t have twenty shekels or about $5 to chip in to be part.
Four years ago we got involved with one of the local school. One of our volunteers was a security guard at the school and he noticed that at lunch time there were some kids weren’t eating. He realized that they had nothing to eat so he started making a few extra sandwiches each day to share with them.
Before he knew it he was no longer able to help all the kids that asked for a sandwich so he asked us if we could help and we did. We opened an account for him at the bakery and supplied him with tuna, chocolate spread, fresh fruit and beverage base. Each morning he would pick up rolls and would go back to his guard shack and begin making forty sandwiches a day. For some this was their breakfast and lunch.
Out of elderly people that were questioned by Latet ninety six percent of them said their government allowance was not enough to allow them to live in dignity. Our records show that sixty percent of those we help are elderly have between $250-$345 for food, clothing, medical expenses transportation, telephone or cable service.
We have already been asked if we can help provide blankets this year to the elderly and even that comes as no surprise to us. In the second report , Chasdei Naomi reports that ten percent of those they questioned do not have enough blankets or other similar products to keep themselves and their families warm this winter.
We have not been able to fulfill the requests for blankets yet but we hope that too will change and we can supply warm blankets this year.
The rising cost of electricity to heat homes is causing many to keep the heaters turned off. Our homes here in Sderot are all cement, brick and stone so when they get cold they will stay cold until the weather starts to warm up… in March!
In the Chasdei Naomi survey, respondents aged 18 or above, also indicated that six percent of the population will have no choice but turn to charitable organizations to receive home heating products or children’s winter clothing. For four percent of them, this will be the first winter during which they will have to ask for help.
We need your help to provide the basic of basic food, clothing and items to help make it through the winter. Will you consider helping? The old saying “Many hands light work” is so true. The cost of a burger out somewhere or a cup of your favorite coffee by many people will help put food, blankets and warm clothing on those who we serve and need it the most.
You can start to make a difference in the life of someone here in Sderot by clicking here